There are two popular concepts that
come to mind, whenever I think of Jamaican politics.
They are; you scratch my
back and I will scratch yours and the other is honor among
thieves. While it was William Shakespeare who popularized the latter in the
end of the 1500s in his play Henry IV, Jamaican PNP and JLP
politicians have adopted it whole heartedly and been applying it religiously
since we got independence sixty years ago.
Yup, we will be celebrating that
great event with much fanfare in a few weeks!
In the meantime, the country
continues to be impoverished by corruption which is estimated to cost us in
excess of $100 billion per year.
Don’t be taken in by what the
politicians say about each other from the platforms or in parliament! That
is just for show, for when it comes to what most politicians want, ie.
the spoils of office, it’s a different ballgame.
In fact, if a being came from Mars,
it could be excused for thinking that Jamaica is the least corrupt
country in the world, since all over the world it sees reports of politicians being
jailed for corruption, but never Jamaica, no matter what the Auditor
General finds or how many spots we slide down on the Transparency
International Perception of Corruption Index.
I know, people like to point to the
late JAG Smith, a former JLP Minister of Labor who was imprisoned in 1990,
supposedly for stealing Farm Worker’s money.
BUT HE WAS NOT JAILED FOR CORRUPTION
but for being rude and abusive to an influential member of the PNP which then
formed the government!
For in true “honor among thieves’ style,
the powerful late trade unionist, former prime minister Hugh Lawson
Shearer and his bosom friend, the late Michael Manley who
was then prime minister, had arranged that it would be swept under the carpet.
Unfortunately, Smith’s legendary arrogance caused him to be
abusive to the final arbiter on the matter in the PNP government and that
is why it was pursued and Smith imprisoned!
In the meantime, our neighbors take
corruption so seriously, that on the 8 July 2022, our own Jamaica
Observer carried this item on how a former prime minister of Trinidad,
allegedly involved in corruption there, is being treated in his country. It
says in part “September 2 (2022) the court is to give a ruling to an
application by the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) George Busby,
who has requested an adjournment into the restart of a decades-old preliminary
inquiry into corruption charges against former prime minister Basdeo Panday and
three others, including his wife, Oma.”
Since there is no penalty in our
political system for corruption despite the numerous cases that have been cited
publicly over the years, the politicians do as they like and remain
untouchable.
Our legendary corruption is not only
widely known in Jamaica but in the neighboring islands, for look at this
headline in the St. Kitts and Nevis Observer in
2019; “Jamaica Losing $J100 Billion Annually from Crime,
Corruption.”
And yes, we do have a
so-called Integrity Commission, but guess what, it is being
gagged and deterred from doing its job by guess who? The Jamaican
parliamentarians JLP and PNP alike of course. (You scratch
my back and I will scratch yours).
This recently led our Financial
Investigation Division to say in frustration that ‘the work of
agencies of Government in the fight against corruption was being hamstrung by
the need to seek ministerial approval before they can exchange information on
investigations. The FID said where the Integrity Commission needs to exchange
information with designated competent authorities or foreign entities for
legitimate investigations, it should not be hindered, and that the Act needs to
be amended to remove this stumbling block in the fight against corruption”.
Also, according to reports coming
out of parliament last week, when the Integrity Commission Bill was being
considered, there was consensus between the Government and the
Opposition to curtail the ability of the commission to speak about its
investigations until probes were completed and reports tabled in Parliament.
This, despite Justice Panton and
numerous other pointing out that;
“The Commission is firmly of the
view that this is a serious impediment to good governance.” “... It is clearly
ridiculous that whereas the police, quite rightly, can say that they are
investigating a criminal matter, the Integrity Commission is not allowed to say
it is.”
The politicians remain firmly
determined to keep secret whether any of the numerous
allegations of corruption, are being investigated, thus preventing members
of the public or even whistleblowers from coming forward with information.
So, whereas, the public is often
exhorted with these fine words in the interest of fighting crime; ‘If
you know something say something,’ that only applies where the alleged
criminals are mere plebs, not politicians.
So yes, politicians shout about the
corruption from the rooftops, but you scratch my back and I will
scratch yours, remains the dominant feature of the Jamaican
parliamentary practice.
And the people perish.
Joan Williams, is a retired talk show host. She can be contacted at; gratestj@gmail.com or followed at; Joan my-views.blogspot.com
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